iPhone Winterboarder

Apple Inc board members on Wednesday pacified shareholders by saying that Steve Jobs, the company’s chief executive officer, remains deeply involved in strategic decisions and is planning to return from his medical leave as scheduled.

“Nothing has changed,” Apple board member Arthur Levinson told investors at the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

Steve Jobs announced on Jan. 14 that he will take a medical leave until the end of June, noting that his health-related issues were more complex than he originally thought.

According to Jobs, the arrangement was fully supported by the company’s board of directors.

In recent years, concerns about Jobs’health have become a factor that causes the fluctuation of Apple’s stock prices.

It was reported that after Jobs’medical leave, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission started an investigation into Apple’s disclosure of his health information to determine whether investors were misled.

However, Levinson defended Apple’s handling of Jobs’health issue, saying the company has met all disclosure obligations.

Jobs was absent from Wednesday’s shareholder meeting, the first time in a decade that he did not show up at the event.

At the meeting, Jobs, Levinson and all the other current members of Apple’s board of directors were re-elected.

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I wish stuff like this would be possible in USA but we can only hope.
Softbank Mobile Corp. said Wednesday that it will effectively cut the price of Apple Inc.’s iPhone 3G to as low as 0 yen through discounted service rates as part of a special sales campaign running through the end of May.

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Apple Inc. is to set up two new stores in Beijing and Shanghai, according to people close to the electronic product provider.

Apple originally planned to establish its first and second China-based retail stores in Beijing’s Qianmen Street and Sanlitun Area, respectively. In July 2008, the Sanlitun store started service. But the Qianmen store is still under construction due to the problems such as infrastructure and will make its debut in the future.

Besides, another Apple retail store is expected to be opened in Shanghai, said insiders, who are not clear whether the Qianmen store or the Shanghai store would be opened firstly.

The stores mainly serve as showrooms and experience centers, but are not expected to lift Apple’s local sales to a large extent, according to analysts. On the other hand, the outlets established by Apple’s distributors contribute to most of the sales.

In addition, the Apple products are often cheaper in the Beijing Zhongguancun Science Park, where smuggled Apple products are sold, too.

Source: www.ittime.com.cn (February 25, 2009)

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February 23rd 2009 marked day one of iPhone sales in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

By most accounts it was a pretty resounding success—Ali S. Al-Dakhee, Mobily’s Youth Segment Manager told the Saudi Gazette: “In just a few hours of launch the number of walk-in customers and those who applied online reached 25,000.”

Over in the UAE, things weren’t quite as smooth, according to one account in Shufflegazine. Reporer Magnus Nystedt went to iStyle at the Dubai mall to buy an iPhone. After some paperwork hassles, he finally was able to walk out of the store with a phone.

Nystedt also found out that the phones appear to be unlocked, as he tried two different SIM cards in the phone without having to jailbreak/unlock. He also reports that company reps told him that Arabic support is “coming soon,” and that at least in the UAE there is no prepaid option.

MacNN reports that “an 8GB model costs anywhere between 0 and 2,646 AED ($720), while a 16GB phone is priced between 375 and 3,090 AED ($102 to $841). The discrepancy is based on accompanying plans, which range between 199 and 643 AED ($54 to $175) per month.”

When it comes to being able to jailbreak it remains to be seen.  Anyone that has been in that part of the world can tell you that the internet is heavily monitored and censored.  If you try to look at Myspace.com you will get a big red warning that the site is blocked due to conflicts with their moral laws.  Apple just has to ask Etisalat and the local ISPs to block Cydia sources and jailbreaking will become inaccessible to the average user.  It remains to be seen how things really stand in UAE  and Saudi Arabia once we get more reports from that side of the world.

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Apple(R) today announced the public beta of Safari(R) 4, the world’s fastest and most innovative web browser for Mac(R) and Windows PCs. The Nitro engine in Safari 4 runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3.* Innovative new features that make browsing more intuitive and enjoyable include Top Sites, for a stunning visual preview of frequently visited pages; Full History Search, to search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages; Cover Flow(R), to easily flip through web history or bookmarks; and Tabs on Top, to make tabbed browsing easier and more intuitive.

“Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards that enables the next generation of interactive web applications.”

Safari 4 is built on the world’s most advanced browser technologies including the new Nitro JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.*

Apple is leading the industry in defining and implementing innovative web standards such as HTML 5 and CSS 3 for an entirely new class of web applications that feature rich media, graphics and fonts. Safari 4 includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies so web-based applications can store information locally without an Internet connection, and is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects that enable highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks. Safari 4 is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project’s Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.

Safari for Mac, Windows, iPhone(TM) and iPod(R) touch are all built on Apple’s WebKit, the world’s fastest and most advanced browser engine. Apple developed WebKit as an open source project to create the world’s best browser engine and to advance the adoption of modern web standards. Most recently, WebKit led the introduction of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards and is known for its fast, modern code-base. The industry’s newest browsers are based on WebKit including Google Chrome, the Google Android browser, the Nokia Series 60 browser and Palm webOS.

Innovative new features in Safari 4 include:
– Top Sites, a display of frequently visited pages in a stunning wall of
previews so users can jump to their favorite sites with a single click;
– Full History Search, where users search through titles, web addresses
and the complete text of recently viewed pages to easily return to
sites they’ve seen before;
– Cover Flow, to make searching web history or bookmarks as fun and easy
as paging through album art in iTunes(R);
– Tabs on Top, for better tabbed browsing with easy drag-and-drop tab
management tools and an intuitive button for opening new ones;
– Smart Address Field, that automatically completes web addresses by
displaying an easy-to-read list of suggestions from Top Sites,
bookmarks and browsing history;
– Smart Search Field, where users fine-tune searches with recommendations
from Google Suggest or a list of recent searches;
– Full Page Zoom, for a closer look at any website without degrading the
quality of the site’s layout and text;
– built-in web developer tools to debug, tweak and optimize a website for
peak performance and compatibility; and
– a new Windows-native look in Safari for Windows, that uses standard
Windows font rendering and native title bar, borders and toolbars so
Safari fits the look and feel of other Windows XP and Windows Vista
applications.

Pricing & Availability

Safari 4 is a public beta for both Mac OS(R) X and Windows and is available immediately as a free download at http://www.apple.com/safari.

Safari 4 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard(R) version 10.5.6 and Security Update 2009-001 or Mac OS X Tiger(R) version 10.4.11, a minimum 256MB of memory, and is designed to run on any Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor and built-in FireWire(R). Safari 4 for Windows requires Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista, a minimum 256MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor. Full system requirements and more information on Safari 4 can be found at http://www.apple.com/safari.

* Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection
and other factors. All testing conducted on an iMac(R) 2.8 GHz Intel
Core 2 Duo system running Windows Vista, with 2GB of RAM. JavaScript
benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test. HTML
benchmark based on VeriTest’s iBench Version 5.0 using default settings.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award- winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, Safari, Cover Flow, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Leopard, Tiger, FireWire and iMac are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Apple

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Telenor Group recently announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring iPhone 3G to Sweden, Denmark and Norway in the coming months.

It will be interesting to see how Apple will be able to enforce their DMCA agreement in the back yard of the Pirate Bay.  From what I know about “piracy” in the region I forsee a 99% jailbreak rate on the iPhone customer base in Scandinavian countries.

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AT&T brought back the $99 3g and the $199 3g refurbished iPhones.  To order by phone, call 1-888-333-6651 or you can get it from their website. That’s a savings of $100 on both models.

As before, you have to sign up for a two-year contract, and you get a warranty of “at least 90 days”–which I suspect means 90 days. (AT&T’s site doesn’t seem to have any specifics on the warranty).

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A couple of days ago, the light fell on what exactly Apple’s intentions are regarding it’s iPhone and iTouch users that choose to jailbreak their devices.  Apple is saying that we are breaking the law, calls us criminals.  It never crossed my mind that I would be called a criminal because I like to make my phone interface look like a leaf, orange, or show my support my local NFL team.  It is worrisome, to know I live in a world where a corporation can declare it’s customers criminals if they don not adhere to the restraints implemented.  If somebody uses their iPhone with bad intentions to break other laws, I could stomach that, but we are not trying to undermine their profit margin.  All we want, is to enjoy the product we payed money for.  Maybe I should sue Apple for interfering with my God given rights.  According to the declaration of independence, I should be free to pursue my happiness.  Well, I’m not happy Apple Inc. is trying to prevent me and others to do so.

Here it is:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

These bastards don’t seem to understand that this government is made, by the people for the people, not for the corporations.   This corporate copyright imprisonment is not gonna fly forever. What goes up must come down, and not long enough, they are going to piss off their customer base who will say:  “Fuck Apple, they’re not gonna see a dime from me anymore.”

Until then I think I just became a pirate, maibe I should shake hands with The Pirate Bay. Haaarrrrrrrr !!!!

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